A Twist of Fate
by SkyGem
Summary: When Sabo doesn't lose his memories in the accident with the tenryubito, it causes his and his brothers' destinies to veer drastically off course. Dragon, realizing that the boys aren't safe with his father, makes a deal with Garp: the kids will be raised by the revolutionaries, and in return, they will join the Marines when they return to East Blue in ten years.Full summary inside
1. The Monkey Brothers

Summary: On the day of Sabo's accident, a strange twist of fate makes it so that he doesn't lose his memories, causing the fate of the world to veer drastically off course. On that day, Luffy learns that sometimes, strength alone is not enough to protect your loved ones. And Dragon learns that he cannot trust his father to take care of Luffy and his brothers, so he makes a deal with Garp: Luffy, Ace, and Sabo will come to live with him for ten years, and in return, they will join the marines when they return to East Blue. Marines AU. No pairings.

SkyGem: Hello hello to readers new and old, and welcome! Thanks a lot for clicking on this fic, and I hope you all enjoy it! This is my first fic for this fandom, so please don't hesitate to let me know if I make any mistakes, yes? And I apologize in advance if updates aren't as frequent as we all would hope. My laptop recently crashed and I haven't gotten around to getting a new one yet, so I have to use my crappy desktop, which I share with my brothers, so bear with me. Anyways, that's it for now, hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

* * *

"Ah! The weather is pretty nice today!" a cheerful voice commented, ringing out through the clear summer air. Its owner, a young man named Monkey D. Luffy, was sitting, relaxed, with his back to a barrel and his arms relaxing on an oar. There was a wide, stupid grin on his face, which was tilted upwards to catch the sun's rays.

"I know, right?" agreed an equally cheerful voice belonging to his older brother, Ace. Like Luffy, Ace was relaxing, leaning with his back against the side of their puny rowboat, which had no doubt been intended for a single person, instead of the three young men that had piled themselves into it.

"But really, who would have thought we'd get into such a disaster right away?" asked the third young man, Sabo, as he looked back and forth between his two brothers, both of whom shrugged back at him, as if the thought had never even occurred to them.

"Think we should jump ship now?" asked Luffy, looking curiously over the side of the boat at the vicious whirlpool that seemed intent on drowning them.

Sabo seemed to consider this for a moment before shrugging and withdrawing his legs from the tangle of limbs in the middle of the rowboat where all their legs met. "Might as well," he said, getting up and grabbing his brothers by the backs of their shirts. "Honestly, it was bad enough having to deal with one hammer, why'd you have to go and become one too, Ace?"

Ace just shrugged and laughed, dismissively before turning to look at the other hammer in their group. "Make sure not to lose your hat, Luffy," he reminded his brother, who nodded and reached up to grab onto his beloved straw hat just before Sabo plunged them all into the frigid sea.

* * *

It took about five minutes for Sabo to get them all out of the clutches of the whirlpool, and then another hour or so (give or take) for them to reach dry land.

The moment they landed on the beach, coughing and gasping, his brothers immediately turned and, simultaneously, bonked him on either side of his head.

"OW!" shrieked Sabo, grabbing both sides of his head in pain. "The hell was that for, you bastards?" he demanded.

"Are you trying to kill us?" demanded Ace, crossing his arms and glaring at him.

"How many times do we have to tell you to come up for air more often?" demanded Luffy, mirroring Ace. "We almost suffocated!"

Rolling his eyes, Sabo held his hands up in front of himself in mock surrender. "My bad, he said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "I'll be more careful next time. Wouldn't want the lack of oxygen to kill off the precious few brain cells you two have, right?"

Luffy's and Ace's faces immediately twisted into outrage, and they both lunged forward with wordless growls, about to start a brawl, but were interrupted when an unfamiliar voice yelled, "OI!"

"WHAT?" they all roared in unison, turning as one to find three ugly brutes glaring menacingly at them.

"What are you three doing here, trespassing on the great pirate Alvida-sama's breeding grounds?" demanded the one with a horizontal striped t-shirt and matching cap.

"Pirate?" asked Sabo, perking up and shooting his brothers a look.

"Truce?" asked Ace, looking back at him with a shit-eating grin spreading across his face.

"Truce," agreed the other two. And then, without further ado, they turned and let loose on their opponents, feral grins lighting up their faces.

If they were looking for good fights however, they were sorely disappointed. Luffy's chosen opponent went down like a sack of potatoes after just one gomu gomu no pistol, and his friends weren't far behind.

Less than a minute after the fight had started, all three opponents were out, and the Monkey brothers were standing around them, their expressions showing them to be completely underwhelmed.

"This is what passes for a pirate these days?" asked Luffy disappointedly, fiddling with the strings of his straw hat as he remembered the promise he'd made all those years ago with its owner.

"Looks like we sure dodged a bullet, giving up on that dream," commented Sabo. "Wouldn't want to be lumped in with idiots like these."

Ace looked as if he were about to say something, but before he could even open his mouth, they were interrupted by a dull thud and panicked cursing.

Turning, they saw a wimpy-looking kid with pink hair lying on his stomach, obviously having just tripped over something. Quickly scrambling to his feet, the kid backed away slowly. "Please don't beat me up," he said as he backed away, his hands held up in front of him in defense. "I-I'm just the caretaker of the ship! Just a cabin boy! It's not like I even want to be a pirate!"

Luffy cocked his head to the side in confusion, still assessing the new arrival.

"Then why are you one?" he asked. It didn't make any sense.

The kid was shaking pitifully now, and looking from side to side as if he were expecting a demon to descend upon him any second now. "I-I only wanted to go fishing that day," he admitted, looking down at his fidgety hands. "But I accidentally got on the wrong boat. I've had to work as a cabin boy these past two years just to stay alive-"

"You're pretty stupid," interrupted Luffy, cutting him off.

"And useless," added Ace.

"And you seem kinda wimpy too," said Sabo.

"We don't like you!" they all concluded together, Luffy grinning widely as if it were the funniest thing in the world.

"Ehehe," chuckled the wimp, looking down in shame. "I guess you're right…if only I was brave enough…" he trailed off, before looking back up at them. "How are you three so strong?" he asked. "What are your dreams?"

Luffy beamed brightly at this. "We're going to be the kings of the sea!" he declared.

"All three of you?" asked the boy, incredulous. "There can only be one king!"

Sabo crossed his arms and huffed. "We're brothers, so if one of us becomes king, the other two will too."

The boy looked unconvinced, but let the matter go, instead asking, "So if you want to be the kings of the sea…does that mean you want to be the pirate kings? Are you going after one piece?"

"Absolutely not!" Ace answered immediately, crossing his arms in front of him like an "x".

The kid's expression grew confused.

"The whole point of being the kings of the sea is to be free," said Sabo. "And you can't do that if you have marines and bounty hunters and other pirates chasing after you all the time."

The kid looked thoughtful at this.

"Oh, but we are going to find One Piece!" Luffy interjected cheerfully.

"Do you wanna die or something?" demanded the kid incredulously, obviously having forgotten his fear of Luffy and his brothers. "All the pirates in the world are looking for it! It would be hard enough if you were pirates yourselves but you're not! It's impossible! Impossible! Absolutely n-!"

Ace cut him off with a backhand to his head, not paying attention to his strength and accidentally sending him flying.

"Ace!" chided Sabo. "Why'd you hit him? We're not supposed to hit civilians!"

"But I couldn't stand him,." Ace answered, frowning. "Anyways, he's technically a pirate, so isn't it fine?"

"Ehehe," the kid chuckled awkwardly again, interrupting them. "It's okay. I'm used to it anyways."

Ace glared, raising his hand as if he were about to hit him again, but Luffy threw an arm around his brother's shoulders, restraining him.

Looking down at the kid on the ground, Luffy grinned again and said, "We're not afraid of dying for our dream!"

The kid's eyes widened.

Sabo snorted.

"Not that we're going to die," he said. "As a team, we're invincible."

"Ahaha, that's true too," agreed Luffy.

But the kid had stopped listening, and was now shaking again, tears gathering in his eyes. "If…if I'm willing to die, will I be able to fulfill my dream?" he asked, in a small voice.

"Huh?" asked Luffy, and the kid looked up.

"Will I be able to become a marine?" he asked, and Sabo perked up in interest.

"Not with that attitude," answered Ace in a surly voice, turning around.

"Then I'll change!" shouted the kid, getting up, and Ace turned back to him, his impression of the kid improving just a smidge. "I have to at least try! I'd rather die trying to get out of here and join the marines than stay here and be a cabin boy all my life! And then, one day, I'll arrest someone like Alvida-sama!"

Now, there were identical smiles crossing the brothers' faces, and Ace was just about to say something when suddenly, an iron mace came flying out of nowhere, nearly taking the kid's head off.

"And just who did you say you were going to arrest, Coby?" asked a new voice.

Gasping in terror, the boy who was apparently named Coby turned and scrambled back, towards Luffy and his brothers.

"I was wondering why it was taking you so long to clean the washroom," said the newcomer, a rather large female pirate wearing a rather nasty expression. "Could it be you've hired bounty hunters to capture me? They certainly don't look like Roronoa Zoro."

His face scrunched in confusion, Luffy turned to Coby. "Who on Earth is this rude woman?" he asked, and Coby turned to look at him in horror.

"Yeah, isn't this the breeding ground of some pirate named Alvida?" asked Ace. "I don't think there's any man alive willing to go to bed with that…thing."

By now, Alvida was sputtering with fury, and Coby hurried to hush his new friend before he got himself killed.

"She's the…" he began, intending to say the well—known phrase that had been pounded into him for the past two years, before stopping and remembering his newfound conviction from a few moments ago.

If he truly wanted anything to change, he would have to prove it now.

Scraping up every scrap of courage he had, he yelled, "THE RUDEST DAMNED BITCH IN ALL OF EAST BLUE!"

Ace and his brothers immediately burst into laughter at this answer, and Coby felt a swell of pride in that moment, feeling as if he'd passed some kind of test.

Then, the moment was over, and he realized the implications of what he'd just done.

Turning around, he watched in horror as a fuming Alvida got ready to attack.

Closing his eyes and preparing himself for the impact, he told himself he wouldn't regret his words, even if he was killed.

But instead of having his skull smashed in by Alvida's famous iron mace, he felt someone grab his arm and opened his eyes in shock to see that Ace, still laughing, had grabbed him and pulled him behind himself and his brothers.

"Good job, kid," said Luffy, throwing his arm around Coby's shoulders, and Coby watched in awe as Ace sprang forward, flames licking at his knuckles as he knocked Alvida out cold with a single punch.

The rest of Alvida's crew, who were watching the ongoing scene in horror, looked about to flee, but with one glare from Sabo, they all froze in their places.

"Sit," he bared, pointing his finger to the ground as if ordering a dog.

The pirates all sat.

"A marine ship will be docking here in about fifteen minutes. If any of you so much as move a muscle before then, or give them any trouble while they're arresting you, my brothers and I will _personally_ make sure you regret it for the rest of your miserable lives."

Shuddering in fear at the tone of Sabo's voice, Coby looked to the sea, and sure enough, he saw a Marine ship steadily drawing closer.

* * *

The fifteen minutes it took for the Marine ship to arrive were some of the most stressful of Coby's life.

Luffy, Ace, and Sabo had gathered up all the other pirates on the island, and had them all sitting on the floor in the seiza position.

Coby, still rooted to the same spot he'd been in during the confrontation with Alvida, watched anxiously as the Marines lowered their anchor and their gangplank.

Before long, there were a bunch of Marines streaming off the ship and heading for the pirates kneeling on the floor to handcuff them.

One of them, their apparent leader, came to a stop in front of Ace, standing at attention.

"I'm Commander Mikoto of the 153rd Marine branch base," he introduced, smiling politely. "My men and I have been chasing this crew since they attacked a passenger vessel as few kilometers south of here. We appreciate your assistance in capturing them, and if you would please accompany us to our base, we would be more than happy to award you their bounty."

Ace laughed genially in reply, and Coby couldn't help but wonder when the surly young man from before had been replaced by this amiable person.

"Don't worry about it," he replied, waving his hand dismissively. "My brothers and I have actually recently joined the Marines, so consider it us doing our jobs."

"EHHH?" exclaimed Coby, shocked, before clapping his hands to his mouth when everyone turned to look at him.

Ace smirked at Coby, amused, before turning back to Commander Mikoto.

"I'm Monkey D. Ace, and these two are my brothers, Sabo and Luffy," he introduced, and the Commander's eyes widened impossibly.

"Monkey?" he asked. "As in Monkey D. Garp?"

"He's our grandfather," confirmed Ace, and Coby almost cried out in shock again. "We were actually on our way to meet up with him when our boat was caught in a whirlpool and capsized."

"A whirlpool?" asked Mikoto, shocked. "Are you alright?"

"We're just fine," answered Ace, waving his hand dismissively. "But we'd appreciate it if we could borrow a den den mushi. And perhaps have a talk with your Captain about possibly helping us out with some new supplies and a ride to Mariejois?"

Commander Mikoto straightened even more upon finding out that their destination was the holy land.

"Of course," he answered. "Captain Morgan is currently at the base, but I'm sure he'd be pleased to meet you."

"Great!" answered Ace, smiling widely. And then, as if suddenly remembering something, he shot Coby a grin and walked over to throw an arm around his shoulders. "By the way, you wouldn't mind if my friend Coby came along, would you? He wants to be a Marine too, and unfortunately, we can't take him with us to Mariejois. I'm sure you could use another hand or two at the 153rd branch though, couldn't you?"

Coby stared at Ace, feeling gratitude bubble up inside him, unable to believe that the same boy who had found him so unbearable just half an hour ago was now helping him achieve his dream.

Commandeer Mikoto was now looking at Coby, as if asking for confirmation.

Not letting Ace's help go to waste, Coby bowed deeply.

"Even if it's just chores, I don't mind! PLEASE LET ME BE A MARINE!"

* * *

SkyGem: That's it for now guys! I know it's pretty similar to the manga, and I really hope it wasn't too boring, but I promise it'll be more interesting next chapter! But for now, please do leave a review and let me know what you think! And for anyone who was wondering, the next fic I'll be updating is Bonded. Look forward to it~!

P.S. In case anyone was wondering why I changed Ace's last name, I promise, it will be explained in future chapters.


	2. Enter Roronoa Zoro

"Why did you tell him we were going to Mariejois?"

Ace looked over at his younger brother, who had found himself a seat on the railing of the ship. The three brothers (who were technically off duty) and Coby (why wasn't a marine yet) were the only ones onboard not doing anything as they waited for Commander Mikoto to return with the den den mushi he'd promised them.

"It sounds more impressive," answered Ace with a shrug, a mischievous smile playing on his face. "Did you see their reactions? Anyways, it's not like it was a lie."

"But I thought we were going to Marineford to see jiji?" asked Luffy, confused.

"We are," answered Sabo. "But Mariejois is right next to Marine ford, and it's where Sengoku-ossan's office is, so I'm sure we'll be going there at least once."

"Oh, okay," said Luffy, as the confusion cleared off his face and was replaced with a smile at the thought of seeing Sengoku. He and his brothers didn't get to see the man often, considering the slightly overprotective revolutionaries they called their family rarely allowed them to leave the headquarters in Baltigo, but Luffy liked him, and he was sure his brothers do too. Sengoku was a lot nicer than most of the other high-ranking marines at Marineford, whose smiles were scary and who just had this overall feeling of **wrongness** around them.

Sengoku smiled often and always gave them gifts when they visited, and didn't laugh at their dreams the way others sometimes did.

"You guys know the fleet admiral?" asked Coby, his eyes wide.

"Yup!" answered Luffy, his smile growing impossible wider. "He's super nice and he's jiji's friend and-"

Luffy looked as if he could've gone on for hours, singing Sengoku's praises, but just then, Commander Mikoto returned with the den den mushi, and he cut himself off and reached out for it, making grabby hands. Coby noticed with some interest that he didn't stretch his arms again, the way he had when fighting Alvida's crew (an effect of the gomu gomu no mi he'd eaten as a child, Coby had found out back on the island while they'd been waiting for the marine ship to arrive).

Before Coby could wonder if this meant anything, he was startled out of his thoughts as the den den mushi in Luffy's hand began shouting.

Turning to look at the Monkey brothers in alarm, Coby was bemused to see they were laughing.

"Sorry for worrying you, jiji," said Luffy in a voice that most definitely wasn't sorry in the least. Besides which, Coby was pretty sure he hadn't heard worry in the shouting voice in the first place – it had been more like exasperation. "We were totally fine! You know how strong of a swimmer Sabo is!"

"That doesn't change anything," answered the man Coby had guessed by now was Vice Admiral Garp. "What were you thinking, trying to get here in a tiny rowboat? What happened to the marine ship that was supposed to be escorting you here?"

All three of the boys frowned at the question, and Ace said, "The captain was an asshole, so we ditched him after we were done visiting with Makino-san and everyone else in Fuchsia village."

Garp sputtered indignantly at that.

"You brats can't just do that! He's the **captain** of the 16th branch and he offered to personally escort you to Marineford! That's a bigger honour than most new recruits can even dream of getting!"

"Don't care," answered Luffy, crossing his arms stubbornly. "He was mean."

"And since when do you even care about these things, jiji?" asked Ace, brows furrowed. "You know he just did it to get on Sengoku-ossan's good side."

"Yeah, but who do you think is going to have to deal with his whining about your rudeness for the next month?" grumbled Garp.

"Suck it up," replied Sabo, his lips twitching slightly as he tried not to smile. "We had to deal with his boasting about his exploits, trying to impress us. You should at least suffer a bit too!"

Garp grumbled a little more before sighing and asking, "Where are you three now, then?"

"On the way to 153rd branch," said Sabo, "We helped them catch Iron Mace Alvida and her crew, so we're going with them to see if they can spare us some supplies."

"You got caught up in a whirlpool, and somehow ended up catching a notorious pirate crew?" asked Garp, sounding amused.

"That's right!" answered Luffy, sounding proud of himself. "And guess what, jiji! I heard some of the others saying they'd arrested Roronoa Zoro, and he was back at their base!"

"Pirate hunter Zoro?" asked Garp, sounding surprised. "I wasn't aware he had a criminal record. He's a bounty hunter, isn't he?"

"That's right!" answered Luffy, "So I was thinking. If he turns out to be a good guy, can he be a part of our crew?"

Coby stared at his new friend, wondering what on Earth he was talking about. Wasn't Roronoa Zoro arrested **because** he was a bad guy? And what was that about a "crew"?

"Gahahaha!" laughed Garp. "How many times do I have to tell you it doesn't work like that, brat? Didn't my idiot son teach you anything? You have to earn the rank of captain before you can get your own ship. And you don't get to choose your own crew!"

"Stingy," replied Luffy, looking away with a pout, even though Garp couldn't see him.

His grandfather laughed again before saying, "From what I've heard, Roronoa is a rather talented swordsman though. If we leave him be, there's always a chance he'll stray down the wrong path, so how about a deal, brat? If you can somehow convince Roronoa to become a marine, I'll make sure he's assigned to the same branch as you!"

Sabo raised an eyebrow at his grandfather's words. "Do you even have the authority to promise that, jiji?"

Another laugh, and Garp replied, "I have the authority to promise whatever the hell I want, brat. Who's going to stop me? Sengoku?"

"Yes," answered Ace in a deadpan voice.

"He won't," answered Garp, sounding sure of himself. "He'd just be happy a powerful potential enemy had been taken care of."

Sabo rolled his eyes in exasperation at his grandfather's carefree attitude, while Luffy cheered in the background, already gushing about how exciting it would be to have Zoro in the marines.

The three brothers continued talking to their grandfather until the ship docked at the island where the base was.

And as Coby followed the three and the other marines to the base, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at the atmosphere in the town, at how the townspeople looked at them all with barely veiled hostility. He resolved himself to ask about it once they arrived at the base.

* * *

When they arrived at the base, the first thing Luffy noticed upon stepping through the gates was the man tied to a post in the middle of the yard.

Intrigued, he headed towards the man, leaving his brothers to do the boring job of greeting the captain of the base.

Luffy was about halfway to the prisoner when he heard his brother say (presumably) to a concerned Commander Mikoto, "He'll be fine. Let's go inside, Commander."

Ignoring them, Luffy walked right up to the prisoner, and sat on the ground about a foot away, watching him silently. When it seemed the man hadn't noticed him, Luffy commented, "Those ropes don't look that hard to break."

There was silence again at his words, but Luffy waited patiently, and finally, the prisoner said, "I've been tied up for nine days with no food or water. I would have died by now if it hadn't rained a few days ago. So forgive me if I don't have the strength to escape."

Luffy considered his words for a moment.

"Are you Roronoa Zoro?" he finally asked.

Zoro looked up with a smile and replied, "If I say yes, will you untie me? I'll repay you. I can hunt down a fugitive and give you their bounty money."

"I can't," replied Luffy with an idiotic grin on his face. "I'm a marine, and the captain of this base hasn't said we can let you go yet, so untying you would be illegal."

"You don't look like a marine," replied Zoro, not looking the least bit upset, as if he hadn't expected Luffy could free him in the first place, and had asked simply because he didn't have anything to lose.

"I'm off duty," replied Luffy. "But if you agree to become a marine, I can convince them to let you go."

Zoro barked out a laugh at those words. "There's no way I'm becoming a government dog! I have my own dream to fulfill!"

"Roronoa Zoro!" a new voice suddenly called out, and Luffy turned to see a weirdo walking out of the base and heading towards them, flanked on both sides by marines. "Don't pick on little kids!"

Confused, Luffy looked around, wondering what kid the weirdo was talking about.

"He means you," informed Zoro, sounding amused, and Luffy's eyes widened.

"I'm not a kid!" he protested, getting up to face the weirdo. "Who the hell are you, anyways?"

"Captain Morgan's bastard son," replied Zoro, his expression petulant.

"Bastard?" asked the bastard son, turning to glare at Zoro. "Don't get cocky. My dad's the captain in charge of this base, you know."

"So what?" asked Luffy, somehow managing to look indignant (from being called a kid) and confused at the same time. "Your dad's rank doesn't extend to you, idiot. My grandfather's a vice admiral, but you don't see me acting all high and mighty."

The bastard son flinched back, not used to his authority being questioned, and not knowing how to reply.

"What did Zoro even do that was bad enough he hasn't got any food for more than a week, anyways?"

The bastard son crossed his arms and looked away, not wanting to justify himself, and perhaps knowing his reason wouldn't be good enough for the angry young marine standing in front of him.

So Zoro answered for him instead.

"I killed his pet dog."

Luffy's head whipped around to look at him, his eyes wide.

"What?" he asked.

Zoro shrugged (as much as he could with his arms tied).

"It was terrorizing the townspeople."

"That's it?" asked Luffy, dumbfounded.

A smile spread across the bastard son's face, falsely assuming that Luffy was taking his side.

Something hardened in Zoro's face as he came to the same conclusion.

The next second though, the smile slipped off the bastard son's face when Luffy turned to him, his features tight with anger.

"How could you starve him to death for such a STUPID reason?" he roared. "Do you really value a dog's life so much more than Zoro's? Or the townspeople's?"

The bastard son stepped back, arms raised in defense.

Stepping forward, one hand clenched tightly into a fist, Luffy pointed towards Zoro.

"Untie him. Now."

Zoro stared at him in wonder.

The bastard son stared at him in horror.

Luffy took another step forward.

And promptly had six bullets lodged into him.

* * *

SkyGem: That's it for this chapter! Thanks bunches for reading, and please do leave a review and let me know what you thought!

P.S. I'm still considering whether or not to give Coby a bigger role in this fic. What do you guys think?


	3. Along for the Ride

It all happened within the span of a few seconds.

One moment, Ace and Sabo were walking out of the base with Capt. Morgan. They were on reasonably civil terms despite the fact the guy was a total asswipe, and the two elder brothers were on their way to let Luffy know the captain had agreed to supply them with provisions for their journey, and had even offered some of his men to escort them to Marineford (no doubt for the same reasons Capt. Nezumi of the 16th branch had offered to escort them).

Then next thing they knew, the asswipe they'd just been talking to was barking out an order to his subordinates, something about shooting the idiot who had disobeyed his orders and trespassed on the execution grounds of Roronoa Zoro.

And then Ace's whole field of vision turned red with rage at the sight of six guns aimed at his baby brother.

Never mind that the bullets bounced harmlessly off of him a second later.

Never mind that he turned to look at them with that familiar clueless expression, wondering who on Earth was attacking him.

Never mind that he was standing there, whole and unharmed and most certainly not dead.

All Ace could think about was that this man, this miserable excuse for a human being, had just tried to murder Luffy in cold blood, and Ace was having none of that.

Morgan didn't even have time to process what was happening before a searing hand whipped out to circle about his throat, cutting off his airways.

"Capt. Morgan," hissed Ace, ignoring the stench of burning flesh and the wisps of smoke curling out from where his skin made contact with the man's neck, "I do believe it is considered quite bad manners to attack one's guests. You should consider yourself lucky that I am a merciful man."

All he received was a pained choke in reply, the captain's eyes rolling back into his head as he passed out from the intense pain.

Ace sneered at the pitiful thing and let go of his neck, allowing him to crumple to the floor with a great thud.

Then, he turned his eyes on the men that had aimed their guns at an innocent young teenager.

They were slowly backing away, staring at him with expressions of horror on their faces.

Before Ace could even open his mouth though, Sabo grabbed his arm and pulled him back with warning look.

"Two of you go take the Captain to a holding cell, and have a doctor look at his neck. My brother doesn't exactly know how to hold back. And someone else go find the next highest-ranking officer in the base and have them report this incident to HQ."

The officers stared dumbly at them for a few moments, expressions of shock on their faces.

"NOW!" barked Sabo, and they snapped out of it, hurrying to do as he said.

* * *

"What the hell are you?" demanded Zoro, staring in shock at the boy who'd just eaten six bullets and gone completely unharmed.

Turning back to face him, the kid grinned wide, and proudly declared, "I'm a rubber man!"

Zoro frowned, guessing it was probably a devil fruit power, and moved on to his next question.

"Do you really think it's such a good idea to turn your back on the guys that just shot you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Laughing, the kid waved a hand dismissively and said, "It's fine, it's fine, my big brothers were over there. They'll take care of it."

"Whatever you say," said Zoro with a shrug, before gesturing to his arms with a tilt of his head and saying, "Now, are you planning on untying me any time soon?"

"Not at all!" replied the kid, smiling wide.

"WHAT?" demanded Zoro. "Why the hell not?"

"You haven't agreed to become a marine yet!" answered the little shit-eater.

"You're still going on about that?" demanded Zoro. "I _can't_ become a marine! I have important things to do! I'm going to become the number one swordsman in the world!"

"DADDY!" called out the distressed voice of the bastard son just then, and Zoro turned to see him running up to the captain, who was now passed out on the floor. So the marine brat wasn't bluffing when he said his brothers would take care of him. Huh.

"I don't see why that means you can't become a marine!" shouted the aforementioned marine brat, continuing their previous argument, and Zoro turned back to him. "If you become a marine, you'll be able to fight lots of powerful pirate swordsmen on the Grand Line!"

"That's only _if_ I'm assigned to work under a captain who either is a commander of a branch stationed on the Grand Line, or who captains a ship chasing pirates on the Grand Line," retorted Zoro. "The chances of which are pretty slim. Which you should know, considering you're a marine!"

"My jiji has already promised that you can be assigned to the same branch as me if you join the marines, so you don't have to worry abo-"

"Luffy!" snapped a new voice, and both Zoro and the brat, Luffy, turned their gazes to the blond young man approaching them. "Why haven't you untied Zoro yet?"

"He hasn't agreed to become a marine yet!" whined Luffy.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the blond closed his eyes.

"Luffy, you can't just refuse to untie him because of that. From what I've heard from the others, he hasn't even done anything to deserve being arrested."

"But Sabooooo!" Luffy whined, crossing his arms and stomping his feet like a child throwing a tantrum.

"No," answered Sabo before pointing back towards the base. "Now go help Ace get ready for the trip. NOW."

Luffy complied, heading back to the base but stopping every few steps to throw a dirty look over his shoulder at his older brother.

Sighing, Sabo set about untying Zoro's ropes.

"Sorry about him," he said. "He's a good boy, I swear. Just sometimes he gets a bit caught up in himself."

"I noticed," Zoro replied dryly.

"He would have untied you eventually," offered Sabo meekly, as if in consolation, and Zoro couldn't help but snort.

"Why does he even want me to join so badly?" asked Zoro, brows furrowed. "How does it affect him in any way?"

Sabo frowned a little, focusing on the knots he was having trouble with.

"When we were little, my brothers and I wanted to be pirates," he explained slowly, his expression thoughtful as he tried to get his thoughts together. "Luffy, especially was quite taken with the idea, ever since he met Red Haired Shanks, who gave him his hat."

"So what changed?" asked Zoro, intrigued, but at the same time wondering what this all had to do with anything.

"I was in an accident," answered Sabo, gesturing for a quick second to the scars that marred half his face. "It involved the tenryubito. And long story short, we realized that day that sometimes, strength isn't enough to protect the ones most important to you. Sometimes you need a different kind of power."

Zoro nodded, listening carefully. By now, both his hands were free, and while he was working at the knots around his waist, Sabo was helping free his feet.

"So anyways, a lot of things happened, and we decided to become marines. But even though we gave up our dreams of becoming pirates, Luffy never did quite give up on the idea of having his own ship, and having his own crew. To this day, he still insists he's going to become a captain with his own ship, and he's going to sail the Grand Line."

"And do you think he can do it?" asked Zoro, free now and rubbing at the skin of his wrists, which had been rubbed raw after more than a week of being tied.

"Without a doubt," answered Sabo, smiling as he got up and gesturing towards the entrance to the base. "And do you want to know a secret?"

"Alright," answered Zoro with a shrug, falling into step with him.

"I think…if Luffy had decided to follow his dream of becoming the pirate king, there's no force on this Earth that could have stopped him."

Zoro watched Sabo carefully – it was something any proud parent or older sibling would say. But the way Sabo said it, with that quiet conviction, almost had Zoro believing him.

By now, they had reached the doors to the base, and Zoro stopped just before he stepped through.

"You okay?" asked Sabo, looking back with concern written on his face.

Zoro ran a hand through his hair, trying to look anywhere but at the inquiring expression Sabo was giving him. Was he seriously considering this…?

"…Luffy said I would be assigned to the same branch as him if I agreed to become a marine…" said Zoro slowly, still trying not to look at Sabo, trying not to see the understanding smiling spreading across his face.

"That's right!" answered Sabo. "Jiji…ah…Vice Admiral Garp himself confirmed it!"

Zoro nodded slightly, to himself.

Was he really going to do this?

He knew very well the corruption the marines and the world government were steeped in.

But despite not even having known Luffy and his brothers very long, there was a part of him that was certain these brothers would never condone the darker side of their chosen career path.

And even back then, before Zoro had spent more than an hour with any of them ,he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that these brothers were going to change the world.

And Zoro was choosing to go along for the ride.

* * *

SkyGem: That's it for this chapter! Thank you so much for reading, my lovelies, and please do leave a review letting me know what you thought.


	4. Of Pride and Hate

News quickly spread throughout the small town that Captain Morgan had been defeated by the same young men that had helped capture Alvida and her band of misfits. The townspeople, eager to show their gratitude, had insisted on cooking a feast for Luffy and his brothers, and by extension, for Coby and Zoro, though the former tried to insist that he hadn't done anything praiseworthy.

The townspeople, for all their fear upon first seeing him, were quick to include Zoro among their group of saviours upon seeing how friendly Luffy and the others were towards him, and finding out his plans of joining the marines.

By the time the food was all eaten (most of it by the Monkey brothers), Zoro was slightly baffled to see that the three of them had already carved out a place for themselves in this little community, fitting in seamlessly, as if they had grown up here.

"If any of you four ever need anything, don't you hesitate to come back here, alright?" called the village chief as they were readying to leave. "Anyone in this village would take you in in a heartbeat."

"Shishishishi," laughed Luffy. "Even if we were to become pirates?" he asked, eyes twinkling mischievously.

"A marine, a pirate, heck, even a fire-breathing dragon, no one cares!" someone else answered. "So long as you're a damned good one!"

"Shishishishishi! I'll hold you to that!" called Luffy, seeming vastly amused.

Rolling his eyes, Zoro cuffed his new friend on the head and dragged him away to help them get ready for their impending journey.

In the end, they had declined Commander Mikoto's offer of an escort and decided to borrow one of their smaller boats (which was actually pretty big, compared to their old rowboat). The 153rd branch was a small one, and therefore could not afford to spare too many of their people, especially now that Captain Morgan was out of commission.

Luffy, in particular, didn't seem too upset about not having an escort.

"It's more fun with just you and my brothers!" he told Zoro, grinning widely. "Anyways, smaller ship means less supplies, and that means more islands to stop at and explore along the way!"

Zoro smiled in agreement of that logic. After all, one of the best parts of setting out to sea was all the different people one met along the way, and all the different kinds of alcohol one could drink.

"So where's our first stop?" asked Zoro.

Their apparent navigator, the blond guy named Sabo, was currently studying the map, and after a moment of consideration, he nodded to himself.

"We should have enough supplies to last us until we arrive at a place called Syrup village."

* * *

"The marines are coming! The marines are coming!"

Usopp looked up from the conversation he'd been having with Ninjin and Piiman when he heard Tamanegi's panicked yelling.

"Don't you mean the pirates?" asked Ninjin once Tamanegi had come to a panting stop in front of him.

Tamanegi shook his head violently, still gasping for breath.

"It had the marines' flag!" he said once he could speak up again. "W-what if they're here for you, captain?"

"O-oi, you're serious?" asked Ninjin, suddenly worried. "Don't joke about something like this! If the marines really are here, then captain Usopp and us are in trouble!"

"I'm serious!" insisted Tamanegi, and Usopp felt his heart catch in his throat.

"We should go check it out," he said, trying to put up his usual brave front. "There's no way they have enough evidence to arrest the great captain Usopp, but we need to make sure they're not here to cause trouble!"

"Yes, captain!" they all cried, excited, and immediately ran off again in the direction Tamanegi had just come from.

Usopp followed right after them.

While he knew the marines couldn't possibly be here for himself and the kids (they were just playing a game after all, it's not like they were actually pirates), the same couldn't be said for his father.

What if the marines had found out this island was his home town, and had decided to punish the townspeople for it? He couldn't allow his father's recklessness to affect the peaceful villagers.

But upon arriving at the shore to find that the marines had already docked, Usopp was relieved to see that there was only four of them, and they all looked pretty young.

Surely if the marines had wanted to punish the village, they would have sent at least a captain, right? There didn't even seem to be a lieutenant among these four!

They were probably just stopping by to re-stock their supplies, Usopp thought as his racing heart calmed down.

His three young friends were pretty keyed up though, so when one of the marines on the beach noticed them, all three immediately fled, yelling something about not wanting to be arrested.

* * *

Ace looked back at Zoro, confused.

"Did you do anything to them?" he asked, and Zoro shrugged.

"Not that I know of."

"Maybe Zoro's face scared them off," laughed Luffy, and received another cuff to the head for his words.

"We don't see marines often in these parts."

"Yeah, I'll bet," answered Sabo, turning to smile at the newcomer. "This island is pretty isolated. And it's in East Blue. You probably don't get much people coming through, let alone anything that would need the marines' attention."

"That's right," answered the newcomer, crossing his arms and nodding sagely. "This is a peaceful village and we don't like trouble here. So forget anything you might have heard about it being the birthplace of any famous pirates or anything."

"This is the birthplace of a famous pirate?" asked Luffy, eyes widening in intrigue. "Who?"

The strange boy smirked. "Obviously it's my fa-!"

Slapping his hands over his mouth, he looked back at them with a horrified expression.

Sabo, Ace, and Zoro were all staring at him in mild surprise, while Luffy's expression was thoughtful.

"Your father?" asked Ace.

The stranger kept his hands covering his mouth, his expression unsure as if he didn't know how to answer. He looked like he wanted to deny it, but for some reason, he couldn't.

Sabo, not wanting to make the boy feel any more awkward than he was feeling now, was about to dismiss the whole topic when there was a sudden shout of "AHA!" from Luffy.

Startled, the others all turned to look at the youngest member of their group, who was pointing at the stranger with an expression on his face as if he had discovered the secrets of the universe.

"YASOPP!" he declared, and the kid flinched away, eyes wide upon hearing his father's name.

"Yasopp?" asked Ace, turning back to the kid and tilting his head to the side, considering him. "You mean from the Red Hair pirates?"

"Yeah! This guy looks just like him!" answered Luffy, smiling from ear to ear. "I met him back when Shanks' crew was using Fuchsia village as their base! He was always talking about how I reminded him of his son! Shishishi! He was a really cool guy!"

Yasopp's son was staring at him now with wonder in his eyes.

"You knew my dad?"

* * *

It had been an hour since he'd first happened upon the marines and their ship, and now Usopp was sitting on the beach with the youngest of them, a cheerful kid named Luffy.

The other three had disappeared a while ago, probably off to get the supplies they'd come here for in the first place, leaving Usopp and Luffy alone to talk about their mutual acquaintance.

Luffy couldn't seem to stop singing praises about Yasopp and the rest of the Red Hair pirates, and Usopp drank it all in eagerly, unable to believe his father was such an amazing man.

But the longer Luffy talked about Yasopp with that same fond tone, the more Usopp felt something unpleasant growing in his gut.

It was a familiar feeling, something he had to actively work to ignore.

But he was used to it, and he liked to think he'd gotten good at not letting it show on his face, what with all his practise over the years.

But maybe he wasn't as good as he thought, or maybe Luffy was just unusually perceptive, because he suddenly stopped, mid-sentence, and gave Usopp a _look_.

It was hard to tell what kind of _look_ it was. Understanding maybe? Disappointment? Sympathy? For all that Luffy's other expressions were like open books, this one was maddeningly cryptic.

"What?" asked Usopp, backing away a little.

"Do you hate your father, Usopp?" he asked quite suddenly, quite seriously, and Usopp's eyes widened, that unpleasant feeling in his gut rising like bile into his throat.

"What?" he asked, startled. "No! Of course not! I'm proud of him!"

"It's possible to be proud of someone and still hate them," answered Luffy, his voice quite.

Usopp turned his face away.

He was absolutely _not_ going to have this conversation with a kid he'd only met an hour ago.

There was a tense silence for a few minutes, the easy atmosphere they'd had between them since their meeting dissolving like sugar in water.

And then…

"I hated my father at first."

Usopp jerked around to look at his new friend, surprised, and saw wide brown eyes staring right back at him, looking impossibly vulnerable.

"Wha-?" was Usopp's intelligent reply.

"I hated my father at first," repeated Luffy, turning to look out at the sea, his eyes suddenly distant. "I didn't even know he was still alive until I was seven. The only parental figures I'd ever known were jiji and Makino and Dadan. And of course my brothers, Sabo and Ace."

Usopp swallowed hard, suddenly noticing how dry his mouth had become.

"When I first met him, I refused to call him dad, even after he took us all in. He was a stranger to me. He didn't deserve that title."

Usopp cleared his throat, trying to find his voice.

"What changed?" he asked.

Luffy turned back, his lips twitching upwards into a smile, softer than his usual sunshiny one.

"He proved to me that he deserved to be called my father," Luffy answered with a shrug. "He knew he was in the wrong, and he took the initiative to fix it. He was the one that burned that bridge all those years ago, when he abandoned me, so I let him be the one that rebuilt it."

Usopp looked down, twisting his fingers in the fabric of his overalls.

He swallowed around the lump in his throat.

"I want to be proud of him," he said finally.

Luffy was silent.

"But I…I can't help but resent him. He left us…"

Luffy was silent.

"He left," repeated Usopp, "And then mom died and I was all alone. I needed him…"

His vision was starting to get blurry.

"I needed him, and he was off chasing treasure and I know it's more than that. I know he has a captain he respects, one he would follow to the ends of the Earth. And I want to be proud of him for being so loyal, for being brave enough to chase his dreams. But I needed him. And he wasn't there. I grew up without any parents, without any family, because he _left me all alone_."

Usopp couldn't help the sob that escaped him then.

"I _want_ to understand. But I just can't…I'm so **angry** at him!"

"Well of course you are," replied Luffy, and Usopp looked up in shock. "You have every right to be. Maybe he has a reason for leaving you and your mom behind, and maybe it's a good one, but that's not what matters. You're his son, and that means you have every right to be angry at him for not being there for you."

Usopp sniffed and wiped his eyes.

"You just have to let yourself be angry sometimes," explained Luffy with a shrug. "And remember, you're not the one that has to work to fix things between you guys. He is."

* * *

SkyGem: That's it for this chapter! Did you guys like? I've always found it kind of strange that in the manga, Usopp was never shown to resent his father, even after he grew up an orphan. So I wanted to put in my two cents in this fic. Because yeah, it's possible to love someone and be proud of them, but to hate them at the same time. So yeah, enough of my rambling. Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought! And don't worry, I haven't forgotten Nami! I have plans for her! Did any of you pick up on the little clue in the last chapter about how I'll introduce her?


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